Wheat sowing picks up pace as Central inventories drop to 7-year low

Sowing of wheat picked up pace during the week ended December 8 as weather turned favourable in several parts of the country. Stocks in the central pool dropped to a seven-year low of 19 million tonnes according to Reuters.

 

A good wheat harvest in the coming season should give the government some cushion to fight inflation as it gears up for the crucial 2024 general elections. Data showed that till Friday, wheat has been sown in around 25 million hectares which is marginally down from the same period last year. Till last week, this difference was almost 5 per cent. Wheat is sown in around 31 million hectares of land and the latest data shows that sowing is on track to reach those levels. 

 

A high-level team of officials on a survey in some of the major wheat-growing areas found that almost 85 per cent of wheat sown so far has been of climate resistant varieties. It has advised farmers to finish sowing till December 25 to get the optimum yield or else go for short duration varieties.